Release Notes for Cisco Conference Connection 1.1(3)

These release notes for Cisco Conference Connection 1.1(3) contain important information for new installations and upgrades. The release notes also describe resolved and known problems in Cisco Conference Connection 1.1(3).

Caveats

Caveats are unexpected behaviors or defects in Cisco hardware releases. They are graded according to severity level. These release notes contain information for severity levels 1, 2, 3 (and some 4's) only. You can search for known problems on the Cisco bug tracking system tool, called Bug Navigator II.

The DC Directory does not start after the upgrade to Cisco CallManager 3.2 with the Cisco Conference Connection User Synchronization process running on the Cisco CallManager server.

CSCdw20603

The login to Cisco Conference Connection fails after synchronization with Cisco CallManager 3.2.

CSCdt66668

A participant cannot rejoin a conference after hold or implied hold.

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A participant does not get a response when an ID is not valid.

CSCdu44471

A participant cannot transfer a caller into conference.

CSCdu88956

On screen instructions are not clear for entering a license.

CSCdv44493

An error occurs when a participant adds a space before the conference name.

CSCdv47224

The option for a new key is not removed when the maximum license is reached.

CSCdv66287

The User Synchronization Process Installation to the LDAP directory on Cisco CallManager is not automatic.

CSCdv21880

The first-party announcement is not available in conference.

CSCdw21904

There are no Japanese voice prompts to provide the Telephone User Interface.

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The Operator Extension should be optional on the Cisco CallManager AppAdmin pages.

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A participant is unable to access Cisco Conference Connection web pages because of special characters in the MSDE password.

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Cisco Conference Connection does not allow a period in the user name but Cisco CallManager does.

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The entry tone is too loud.

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The Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide should not be visible on the Regular/Guest Info screen.

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Callers get a busy signal or are dropped when calling the primary Cisco Conference Connection number when Cisco CallManager fails over.

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The Cisco Conference Connection Metalink agreement is corrupted during Cisco CallManager upgrade to version 3.2.

Table 2 Known Problems in Cisco Conference Connection 1.1(3)

DDTS Number

Description

Solution/Work Around

CSCdw68175

When a user subscribes to the Cisco Conference Connection IP Phone Service, the user may be asked to enter his password.

The user should be automatically logged into the list of conferences.

This problem can be resolved as follows:

1. In the Cisco CallManager administration pages where Cisco IP Phone service is configured, in the Service Parameter Information page, be sure to enter the names of the parameters exactly as shown here, with the first character capitalized:

Name

Password

2. Users must enter their passwords to log into the Cisco Conference Connection service.

CSCdw64700

When the Cisco CallManager service is manually shut down, Cisco CallManager failover occurs and in-conference audio channels are cut off.

If the failover occurs for other reasons (for example, the power goes off or a network cable is unplugged), the in-conference audio channel(s) remain active.

This problem rarely occurs. To avoid it completely, do not manually shut down the Cisco CallManager service. Manually shutting down Cisco CallManager causes the running conferences to be disconnected.

CSCdu74973

Using a MIB Browser tool, you can see the version of Cisco Conference Connection (in the Serviceability Table sysAppMIB/sysAppInstallPkgEntry/
sysAppInstallPkgVersion2).

To check which version of Cisco Conference Connection you are running:

On the Admin pages of Cisco Conference Connection, click the About button in the menu on the top of the screen.

The Cisco Conference Connection version displays.

CSCdu75518

Cisco Conference Connection does not distinguish between a blank administrator password and a password containing spaces only.

Do not use spaces in a password. Choose a password containing digits and letters.

CSCdw67381

After a Cisco Conference Connection server is upgraded to operating system version 2000-1-3, the Cisco Conference Connection administration pages become inaccessible and the virtual directory "Scripts" is removed.

Recreate the virtual directory as described in the solution to CSCdv18352.

CSCdv18352

During the installation of Cisco Conference Connection, the Scripts virtual directory may fail to be installed, and therefore the Cisco Conference Connection web components installation is incomplete.

When viewing the participant information for a past conference, the participant column may contain an IP address, not the phone number of the participant. This usually occurs when the Caller ID is unavailable. The IP address is the address of the Gateway (or sometimes the Cisco CallManager) that directed to the call to Cisco Conference Connection

You can accept that no Caller ID appears and that the gateway IP address appears.

Or, you can make sure that the Caller ID is reported by the gateway in the gateway configuration. Ask callers to reveal their Caller ID.

CSCdt86769

If a time period during which scheduled conferences consume all or nearly all of the available conference ports, and a user tries to create a conference, the error "Conference Scheduling Failed" with the reason "no resource available" may appear.

Conference resources are reserved in five-minute intervals:

Conference start times are rounded down to the nearest five-minute interval.

Conference end times are rounded up to the nearest five-minute interval.

For example, a conference scheduled for 100 ports from 10:23 a.m. to 10:43 a.m. reserves 100 ports from 10:20 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Note The conference still runs only in the scheduled 10:23 a.m. to 10:43 a.m. time interval.

Schedule conferences so that they begin or end at five-minute intervals (for example, 5:00, 5:05, 5:10, and so on).

CSCdt87084

If the start date of the first occurrence of a repeating conference is after the end date, at least one meeting will be scheduled for that series, provided no other conflicts occur.

For example: On August 20, 2001 (Monday) a recurring conference is scheduled to run every Wednesday, but the start and end date for the recurring conference is today (Aug 20, 2001). As a result, one conference will be scheduled for the series. This conference will run on Aug 22, 2001 (Wednesday), even though this is after the end date (Aug 20, 2001).

When scheduling repeating conferences, make sure there is at least one valid conference that can run within the given start and end dates.

CSCdu01568

One or more participants in one or more conferences may be dropped from a conference without warning and without having taken any action.

There may be one or more causes for this problem:

The conference time elapsed and resources are needed for other conferences. In this case, Cisco Conference Connection terminates the running conference.

The administrator has modified or reset the conference server. If an administrator modifies the route pattern or any attributes of the conference gateway in the Cisco CallManager configuration, a reset is normally performed and calls to the conference engine are dropped.

A remotely connected user is dropped because a gateway is reset.

An administrator or the conference creator manually stopped the conference.

Here are some recommendations for avoiding this problem:

Allow sufficient time for your conference.

Restrict administrative changes to off hours.

Only reset gateways or the conference engine when absolutely needed.

Note If the participant is unable to immediately reconnect, the problem may be due to a conference server failure or because the conference was stopped for administrative changes.

CSCdu06957

Echo is heard while using Cisco Conference Connection.

This problem is generally caused by improper gateway configuration and thus is most prominent when external callers are involved in the conference. The most important parameter to adjust is the echo-cancel command, which is found on IOS gateways.

Other sources of echo include:

placing a handset face down on a hard surface, particularly when the volume is set to high

feedback from some headsets and handsets

poor quality speakerphones

Impedance mismatch between phones and their network connection (analog phones) or between a trunk and the CO connection (analog trunks).

One way to help eliminate various participants as the source(s) of echo is to ask them to mute their phones one by one (if possible). Or, if it is not possible to mute, then ask them to momentarily drop out of the conference.

Note The participant who is not hearing echo is usually the source of the problem.

CSCdu20908

When several participants join the conference at the same time, or very close together, the entry tone may not be heard completely for each participant who joined the conference.

Have the conference participants announce themselves when joining a conference.

The MSDE installation running in single user mode causes this failure. During the installation, if some other process gets a connection to the MSDE server, the installation fails because it cannot get a connection to the MSDE server (a user is already connected). These other process can be any of the following:

Metalink agreements running on Call Manager machine

SQL Enterprise manager connecting to the MSDE

Monitoring services on the machine or the network.

When you install Cisco Conference Connection, be sure:

To disconnect the network cable on the machine where you are installing Cisco Conference Connection.

No metalink agreements are running. If there is a metalink agreement running on the Cisco CallManager machine, stop it.

No enterprise manager is trying to connect to MSDE on this machine.

CSCdv10356

During a conference, participants experience jittery voices, which may sound like the speaker is underwater, robotic, or clipped entirely.

This problem is most often observed when participants join a conference through gateways and in a highly routed/switched network (multiple hops).

Occasionally, after a new installation of Cisco Conference Connection, subsystems fail to start even though the Application Engine is shown as running http://<machine-name>/
appadmin/Engine.

For Cisco Conference Connection to function properly, it is necessary for the subsystems to be running.

Reboot the server for Cisco Conference Connection to cause the subsystem to start.

CSCdv39677

When the Cisco Conference Connection server rejects the call, a busy tone is played back to the user. This tone playback may not work when the caller has dialed in using a H.323 gateway. This may occur when the conference is full.

There is no workaround for H.323 gateway callers. However, if you schedule enough ports so the conference is not full, you will not encounter this problem.

CSCdw28983

When using the VG200 with Cisco Conference Connection, a participant using a G.711 phone can join the conference. However, when using a G.729 phone, the participant reaches the IVR but gets fast busy when attempting to connect to the conference.

Dial in through a non-VG200 gateway, if one is available.

It is recommended that you use the Catalyst 6000 Family Voice T1/E1 and Services Modules (product number WS-X6608) as the transcoding resource for Cisco Conference Connection.

If using Cisco Conference Connection with a VG200 gateway, do not use a G.729 phone.

CSCdt77086

If the repeat options are used when creating a conference, using the drop-down list boxes, it is possible to select invalid days, like February 30. An error appears when trying to schedule a repeating conference that has an invalid start or end day.

Do not select invalid dates and/or correct them after receiving such an error.

The Hidden Conference option is incorrectly described as the default configuration in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide and the Cisco Conference Connection Quick Start Guide.

At installation, the default configuration is not hidden and conferences are visible to all users. However, you may change the default setting to hidden. To configure the Hidden Conference setting, use Administration Tasks on the Edit Information Page.

Regardless of the default, selection of a hidden or visible conference may be changed at the option of the individual scheduling the call.

Read the following information to understand how Conference ID validation works with Cisco Conference Connection:

If the conference with the entered ID is currently running, the call is transferred into the conference.

If conference capacity is full, the caller gets a busy tone.

If the conference with the entered ID has ended or the ID is invalid, the call is disconnected.
The caller is given three attempts to enter a valid ID, if validation still fails, the call gets disconnected or transferred to the operator.

If the conference with the entered ID has not yet started, then the corresponding message is played to the caller in each of the following cases:

After each subsequent failed attempt, the caller is provided with a more detailed help message. The caller can also choose to get more help by pressing the * key.

On the final (third) attempt, confirmation of entered digits is not provided and no more choices are given to the caller.

When a gateway is used to enter the conference, configure it to provide error or busy tones to the callers. The conference propagates the notifications that it receives.

Once started, conferences cannot be expanded to allow more participants. If a conference is full and additional participants are needed, the conference must be stopped and recreated. All existing participants must dial back in.

Installing Cisco Conference Connection: New Installation

To install Cisco Conference Connection as a new installation, perform the following procedure in this release note:

Step 3 Perform the steps in Chapter 3 "Cisco Conference Connection Configuration" in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide except for the following changes. Perform the procedures in this release note as described here:

a. When you are performing the steps in the "Adding CTI Ports in Cisco CallManager" procedure in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide, use the guidelines in CTI Port Addition in Cisco CallManager.

To install the operating system for Cisco Conference Connection, use the Cisco CallManager "Starting the Operating System Installation" procedure along with the following information specific to Cisco Conference Connection:

Procedure

Step 1 Use the installation instructions for the server type that you are installing.

Note Cisco Conference Connection does not support the IBM xSeries 330 servers.

Step 2 In Step 14, enter the product key FVHD-IAZA-ROFJ-DERJ.

Step 3 After you install the Operating System do not proceed to the section "Installing Cisco CallManager." Instead, continue with the Cisco Conference Connection installation and follow the instructions in the section "Installing Cisco Conference Connection" in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide.

CTI Port Addition in CiscoCallManager

Follow these guidelines along with the "Adding CTI Ports in Cisco CallManager" procedure in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide.

To determine the number of CTI ports in Cisco CallManager that you need for Cisco Conference Connection:

For a 20-port license, configure 10 CTI ports.

For a 60-port license, configure 10 CTI ports.

For a 100-port license, configure 15 CTI ports.

Note The CTI port is only active as a participant accesses the IVR; therefore, a CTI port is not required for each Cisco Conference Connection participant.

Automatically Starting the User Synchronization Process

The installation CD-ROM comes with an installation to facilitate setting up Cisco Conference Connection users. Use the following procedure instead of the "Starting the Synchronization Process" procedure under "Setting up Cisco Conference Connection Users" in the configuration chapter of the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide.

To install the Automated User Synchronization Tool, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1 Take the CD-ROM to the Cisco CallManager server.

Step 2 In the UserSynchInstall directory on the CD-ROM, run setup.exe.

Note If your network uses DNS services, you can enter the DNS name of the Cisco Conference Connection server. You must update the DNS server with the appropriate Cisco Conference Connection server name and IP address information before using that information here.

If your network does not use DNS services, you must enter the full IP address of the server.

Step 6 At the Database Password screen, enter the password specified during the Cisco Conference Connection installation and click Next.

Step 7 Confirm the installation and click Yes.

Step 8 Click Finish to complete the installation.

This completes the user synchronization between Cisco CallManager and one Cisco Conference Connection server.

If you require additional servers, perform the steps in one of the following procedures:

Step 3 In the JTAPI providers field, enter the DNS name or IP address of the primary Cisco CallManager and then enter the secondary Cisco CallManager. Make sure a space separates the two DNS names or IP addresses.

Configuring Music on Hold for CiscoConferenceConnection

Use this procedure to disable the Music On Hold feature for Cisco Conference Connection and to allow the feature for calls between IP phones. This procedure prevents music on hold from being played into a conference for callers within the same Cisco CallManager cluster. This does not prevent music being played from other sources, such as remote callers on other systems.

This configuration is recommended so that the music on hold feature does not disrupt conferences when a participant places the conference on hold.

This configuration adds all of the music on hold resources into a Media Resource Group (other than the default). This ensures that music on hold is then available only to entities in the resource group list, where that Media Resource Group is included.

This procedure uses a new Media Resource Group and List for example only. Creation of new groups/lists is not required but may be used. The underlying principle is to have music on hold resources outside of the default group (each device is assigned a default, when it is added). See the Cisco CallManager documentation to configure a phone or other devices into a Media Resource Group List.

Note The Cisco Conference Connection H.323 gateway device must NOT be within a group or list that contains music on hold resources. Failure to do this may result in music on hold being played in conference and confusing messages being played.

Perform the following steps to disable the Music on Hold feature with Cisco Conference Connection:

Procedure

Step 2 Click Add a new media resource group and provide a name for the new group on the next page, for example, MOHGroup.

Step 3 In the selection box, select all the Music On Hold resources and put them in the new group, such as, MOHGroup.

Step 4 Go to Services > Media Resource Group List.

Step 5 Add a new Resource Group List (for example, MOHList) and then add the new group created in step 2 to this list.

All IP phones that require the Music On Hold feature must be part of this list. Now all entities that belong to this group list will be able to receive music on hold and users of Cisco Conference Connection will not hear music.

Enabling Licenses for CiscoConferenceConnection

Use this information along with the "Licensing Setup" and the "Licensing Update" sections in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide.

Initial Cisco Conference Connection installation provides six conference ports. To enable additional ports, you must perform one or several steps depending on the number of license upgrades.

License keys are required as described here:

6 to 20 port upgrade

20 to 60 port upgrade

60 to 100 port upgrade

20 to 100 port upgrade

For example, if 100 ports are purchased, you will perform the following steps:

1. Use the first license key and upgrade 6 to 20 ports.

2. Use the second license key and upgrade 20 to 100 ports.

After entering all license keys, restart Cisco Conference Connection for the changes to take effect.

Upgrading CiscoConferenceConnection

To upgrade Cisco Conference Connection, perform the following procedures:

Step 2 On the menu page, go to Directory and note the Directory hostname as well as the profile selected in the box on the right of the web page.

For more information, refer to the "Configuring Directory Information" section in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide.

Upgrading CiscoConferenceConnection

Before starting the upgrade, make sure that no conferences are currently running.

Perform the following steps to upgrade Cisco Conference Connection to the current release:

Procedure

Step 1 Go to Start > Programs > Cisco Conference Connection.

Step 2 In the menu, choose Uninstall.

Step 3 In the dialog box "Are you sure you want to uninstall?" choose Yes.

Step 4 At the end of the uninstall, you may get a dialog ("It is recommended that you restart the machine to remove files....").
Click OK.

Step 5 After the uninstall, reboot or restart the server.

Step 6 After the reboot, insert the Cisco Conference Connection Release 1.1(3) CD-ROM into the server, or, if you have the zip file, unzip the contents of the zip file into a temporary directory of your choice. Do NOT unzip contents onto the desktop.

Step 7 Complete the steps outlined in the "Installing from the CD-ROM" section in the Cisco Conference Connection Administration Guide (Steps 1 through Step 17).

Note For the JTAPI client, you will receive a dialog asking you to choose an action for JTAPI client installation. Choose Upgrade JTAPI client. Then continue as outlined in the Administration Guide.

Step 8 During the installation, enter the MSDE password when prompted.

After you complete the installation, restart the server.

Restoring the Configuration for CiscoConferenceConnection

Perform the following procedures to restore the configuration for Cisco Conference Connection:

Procedure

Step 1 Connect to the Application Administration web server by using the following URL:

Step 9 On the Maintenance Operations screen, choose "Upgrade from vX.X(x) to vX.X(x)" and click Next.

Step 10 Choose "Yes, I want to restart my computer" and click Finish.

Repairing the User Synchronization Process on Cisco CallManager

The upgrade from Cisco CallManager 3.1 to Cisco CallManager 3.2 corrupts the the User Synchronization process. You must repair the User Synchronization process on the Cisco CallManager server after upgrading Cisco CallManager.

Note Default backup subdirectories are created to save the original prompts in three directories:
C:\Program Files\wfavvid\Prompts\system\en_US
C:\Program Files\wfavvid\Prompts\user\en_US
C:\Program Files\Cisco\ ConferenceConnection\Prompts
Users can restore English prompts from defaultbackup directories.

Step 5 Restart the application engine.

Obtaining Documentation

The following sections explain how to obtain documentation from Cisco Systems.

World Wide Web

You can access the most current Cisco documentation on the World Wide Web at the following URL:

Documentation CD-ROM

Cisco documentation and additional literature are available in a Cisco Documentation CD-ROM package, which is shipped with your product. The Documentation CD-ROM is updated monthly and may be more current than printed documentation. The CD-ROM package is available as a single unit or through an annual subscription.

Nonregistered Cisco.com users can order documentation through a local account representative by calling Cisco corporate headquarters (California, USA) at 408 526-7208 or, elsewhere in North America, by calling 800 553-NETS (6387).

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Cisco provides Cisco.com as a starting point for all technical assistance. Customers and partners can obtain documentation, troubleshooting tips, and sample configurations from online tools by using the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Web Site. Cisco.com registered users have complete access to the technical support resources on the Cisco TAC Web Site.

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Inquiries to Cisco TAC are categorized according to the urgency of the issue:

Priority level 2 (P2)Your production network is severely degraded, affecting significant aspects of business operations. No workaround is available.

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Cisco TAC Escalation Center

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